New Year’s Concert at Teatro La Fenice

Myung-Whun Chung is to conduct

Myung-Whun Chung is to conduct the fifteenth edition of the New Year’s Concert at Teatro La Fenice. The multiple-award winner Korean maestro – in 2015 alone he won the Premio Abbiato and was proclaimed “Artist of the year” in Japan, while in 2013 Teatro La Fenice awarded him Premio Una Vita nella Musica – will take the baton and conduct two exceptional soloists as tenor Michael Fabiano and soprano Maria Agresta, such as the Orchestra and Choir of Teatro La Fenice, with a programme that is, as always, in two parts: the first is exclusively orchestral whilst the second is dedicated to opera, with a variety of arias, duets and choral pieces from the best-loved opera repertoire. The concert will be performed five times: Thursday 28 December 2017 at 20.00; Friday 29 at 20.00, Saturday 30 at 17.00, Sunday 31 at 16.00 and Monday 1 January 2018 at 11.15. The second part of the concert on 1 January will be broadcast live on Rai1 and as a recorded broadcast on Rai5 and on Rai Radio 3.

Born in Korea, Myung-Whun Chung began his career in music as a pianist, debuting at the age of seven; when he was twenty-one he won the second prize in the Tchaikovsky Piano Competition in Moscow. He attended specialist courses at Mannes College and the Juilliard School of New York in the United States, and in 1979 he became assistant to Carlo Maria Giulini in the Los Angeles Philharmonic where, in 1981, he was made associate conductor. From 1984 to 1990 he was the chief conductor of the Symphonic Orchestra of the Saarbrücken Radio, from 1987 to 1992 principal guest conductor of the Florence Comunale, from 1989 to 1994, Music Director of the Opéra de Paris-Bastille and from 1997 to 2005 principal guest conductor of the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome. In 1995 he founded the Asia Philharmonic, in 2005 he was the Music Director of the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra and in 2016 honorary Music Director of the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra. Since 2011 he has been the Principal Guest Conductor of the Dresden Staatskapelle and from 2000 to 2015 Music Director of the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, where he became honorary Director in 2016. He has conducted many of the most prestigious orchestras in the world and been given important awards in both Italy and France. Committed to initiatives of a humanitarian nature, in 1995 he was made Man of the Year by Unesco, and the following year the Korean government awarded him the Kumkuan, the most important award in the cultural field. Chung and the musicians of the Orchestra Philharmonique de Radio France were nominated Unicef Ambassadors in 2007 and in 2008 Chung was appointed Goodwill Ambassador. At La Fenice he has conducted Madama Butterfly (2016), Simon Boccanegra (2014), which received the Premio Abbiati and the nomination of Conductor of the Year (2015), Otello (2013, 2012), the tournée in Japan (2013), Verdi’s Messa da Requiem (2013), Tristan und Isolde (2012), Rigoletto (2010), La traviata (2010, 2009) and countless symphonic concerts. In 2013 he was given the keys to the City of Venice in recognition of his commitment towards la Fenice and music in the city.

The concert will be performed five times: Thursday 28 December 2017 at 20.00; Friday 29 at 20.00, Saturday 30 at 17.00, Sunday 31 at 16.00 and Monday 1 January 2018 at 11.15. The second part of the concert on 1 January will be broadcast live on Rai1 and as a recorded broadcast on Rai5 and on Rai Radio 3.